US Population to Top 300 Million 792
An anonymous reader writes "The number of Americans will surpass 300 million this month, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially. The US census bureau says the 300 million mark will be reached 39 years after US population topped 200 million and 91 years after it exceeded 100 million. That makes US the third most populous country behind china and india. It is noteworthy that sheer number of human beings do not necessarily have the heaviest impact on the environment. Instead environmental impact is a calculation that involves population, affluence and technology. The US consumes nearly 25% of the world's energy though it has only 5% of the world's population and has the highest per capita oil consumption worldwide. Each American produces about 2.3 kg of trash a day, a rate about 5 times that in developing countries."
Plenty of Room (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Invasion of The Straw Men!! Aaaahh!!! (Score:1, Informative)
Re:The US Consumes More Because It Does More (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Plenty of Room (Score:2, Informative)
The smallest state in the US is Rhode Island, at 1,045 square miles.
The UK is 152,124 square miles. So no, you're not the size of the Rhode Island, you're larger.
Re:Plenty of Room (Score:3, Informative)
Correct. You are our 12th largest state. Rather larger than my home state of NY, which could fit several of the smaller states inside it.
Our smallest state has an area of only 1500 square miles, much is which is actually nothing more than tidal marsh.
And despite some claims to the contrary, we're not particularly overcrowded. .
How many wild bears and big cats do you have left? If the answer is "none" I'll join the group that thinks you're overcrowded.
KFG
Re:Perspective (Score:2, Informative)
Just because we have a large GDP does not mean that the extra energy that we use goes into producing more "stuff". It just means that we're much richer than most other countries so the average US citizen can consume a lot more. (For instance, using dryers rather than hanging out laundry, etc)
Per Capita Oil Usage (Score:5, Informative)
Interesting to note: Luxembourg is number 7 and most of the largest consumers per capita are Island Nations.
Re:The US Consumes More Because It Does More (Score:3, Informative)
Us in Europe used all of ours rather heavily in the last centuary.
Whereas at the time the Indians in Amnerica at the time were managing a country that would last them an enternity.
Unfortunately for them us Europeans used our natural resources to steal it from them and create the United States as it is today.
BZZZT (Score:4, Informative)
WRONG [wikipedia.org]
World GDP = 60,000 Bn
US GDP = 12,000 Bn
Share of US in World GDP : 20%
Amazingly enough, the US are less energy efficient than the RoW.
If you're looking for an exceptionally efficient economy, try the EU.
US GDP $8.2B??? WTF (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Gratuitous US Bashing Increases Pagehits (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What's with the balance of payments then? (Score:2, Informative)
So stop using the bullshit "other countries buy all their debt" line.
Energy efficiency of the three largest producers (Score:2, Informative)
This post struck me as interesting enough to do the research. The numbers were pulled together from various sources (linked) and may be incorrect. The computations did present the image of a HIGHLY efficient US workforce though, which manages to produce 20% of the world's GDP with only 5% of the population.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by
US produces 20% of GDP with 25% of the energy and 5% of the population
EU produces 20% of GDP with 21% of the energy and 7% of the population
China produces 15% of GDP with 15% of the energy and 20% of the population
32% of the global population produces 55% of the wealth using 60% of the energy.